Motivation, Accountability, Whatever You Call It

I'm struggling with the mess around here.

I am unmotivated to clean it up.

There's too much to do.

Cleaning is boring.

But, it must be done.

So, here is the ugly truth.

I'm hoping the promise of "after" pictures will get me into gear.

I know I'm not alone.

I'm letting this ugly out in the open so it can be exposed for what it is.

Then, perhaps, I can take some pretty pictures of our new house with its fresh paint.

Without further adieu, I present my mess.

The sunroom was attacked by a sewing monster.

The kitchen counter is full of dishes.

Bills, paper clutter, ugh.

And, to comfort your seared eyes, here is the rag rug that I made. I really like it. If you can do a simple single crochet, you can make one of these.

I didn't use vintage sheets or anything, just fabric scraps I had lying around.

Things to Celebrate!

1. My brother has finally made me an aunt! I have two nieces and a nephew by marriage, but this morning about 2am, Addison Mae joined our family, and I now have a niece by blood. It is VERY exciting, and I can't wait to meet her and cuddle her. Miranda sent me a picture on my phone, and she is just adorable. She looks a lot like my brother! It is fun to see him in a little baby.

2. The painting is almost finished. The house looks great. We are slowly seeing it come together. I can't wait to post pictures!

3. Maryn is going on the potty quite well. She has had fewer #1 and #2 accidents. Her biggest hangup with #2 is that she wants to do it all by herself...which makes for a messy situation. :( But, she's getting it down, and I am so proud of her!

4. We may be buying a van today! We have shopped around, and we found an older Odyssey for a good price. We want to pay cash, so we can't spend much. It has quite a few miles, but we are having our mechanic in Conway take a looksie at it this afternoon. If he gives it a clean bill of health, we will more than likely purchase it! I haven't completely gotten my hopes up about it, but I am excited. This is something we have been waiting for since February of 2008.

5. We're gearing up for a week of meeting people. Dave has several functions to attend next week to let people know he's in the area. I'm hoping to figure out some activities for the kids and me to do together.

6. We're trying one more church this week, and unless God tells us to wait, we will be making a decision quite soon on where to attend. This has been a very difficult process for us. We are really seeking His peace and direction for where to be. You can join us in prayer for guidance and discernment in this situation.

7. Dave starts working on Friday! He's excited and nervous. I'm so happy for him, and I hope all goes well.

8. I have a new project--rag rugs. I'm starting off on just one, and we'll see how it goes. I'll post pics when I am finished. My friend, Carrie, sent me the tutorial which can be found HERE.

What are you celebrating?

Wish I Had a Title, but I Don't. So there.

Trying to think of what to say.

Sunroom is unpacked. It looks a lot better. We need another desk in here. I'm planning on taking over the old desk and making it my sewing desk. Dave wants a bigger desk for the computer (and for MY calendar). I want a big desk calendar like I had when I was teaching. I like to look at it and write everything down that I need to do. I forget more now that I have three kids. Like right now, I know I have a bunch of things I was supposed to do--like pay student loans, change addresses, send support $, but my head is swimming. I'm ready to get organized in the sweet moolah department.

I also want to secondhand shop for a queen sized bed frame so we can have a bed in the sunroom for guests. We want to buy a new mattress/box springs for it b/c our parents are all creaky in the back. I mean no disrespect. :)

We got a roof estimate, painting estimate, and now we're waiting on a sign-on bonus to help out with the repairs/painting. I told Dave to take a rest this time and let someone else paint. I didn't want him to use his whole break painting like we did before residency started. He has been working so hard for the last seven years, I think a mini-vaca is reasonable.

I bought some precious lime-green 100% cotton, it has little fabric dots (of the same color) on it. I wish I knew what it was called. I also bought a SWEET knit print that's all Japanese looking--mainly white with black and red flowery stuff on it. MORE SKIRTS FOR ME.

We've picked out our paint colors. They are as follows (for those of you who recall how bright our former home was, this one is not AS bright, and is even more IKEA than the other house):

(All paint is Behr paint from Home Depot can be viewed at Behr.com)

Living room-- Anonymous (a medium gray)

Accent Recessed Area--Dark Granite (a dark gray)

Dining Room-- 1 Full Wall- Anonymous
3 Walls with chair rail--bottom is Anonymous, top is California Poppy (a brightish red that matches our red chairs)

Kitchen-- New Green (it's darker than the green in our old kitchen--kind of a lighter shade of avocado?)

Lucy's Room--One accent wall will be Traditional (a brown)...trying to decide about the other three walls. We want it gender neutral since it is a nursery, and we don't think we're done having babies. But, the room is so small, we don't want it ALL brown. Her nursery decor is the pink/brown combo we had for Maryn, so we want THAT to coordinate too...decisions, decisions...

We're leaving the sunroom white. The hallways will be gray and white in spots. Our room is remaining the robin egg blue and the kids' room will remain the yellowish/green color it is (similiar to our old kitchen). The bathrooms are another story...they need to be completely revamped, so we're talking remodelling them...color will come last.

Wish I had pictures for you...The before and after pictures will be fun.

I'm going to stop now, b/c I'm about positive you're bored to tears. I am, at least.